I have a scooter and I'm not afraid to use it!

Beisbol bin berry, berry good

I’ve always wondered how people afford to pay 30 bucks to park near Safeco Field when attending Mariners games. I sure can’t. Luckily, there’s parking close by that’s absolutely free — if your ride’s small enough.

A few weeks ago, Safety Ed and I saw the Seattle Storm play at Key Arena. We parked our scooters directly across the street from the main entrance.

On Tuesday, Kat(t) and I went to see the Mariners play the Red Sox. We parked our bikes under the Viaduct, in a little nook at the corner of Royal Brougham Way and Alaskan Way.

Kat(t) came to Seattle from Boston, and while she isn’t a member of the Red Sox Nation, she lived next to Fenway Park for a time. “You haven’t lived until you’ve been to a Red Sox-Yankees game in Fenway Park,” she says. One of those games figured prominently in her scootering life.

Now she rides a GTS, which is considerably heavier than the Honda Elite that got chucked into the Charles River. Even if it weren’t, Seattle baseball fans are not like the ones in New York and Boston; prior to the first pitch, fans are admonished by the Safeco Field announcer not to yell profanities at the players, and nobody rolls on the floor laughing. Well, Kat(t) almost did.

Safeco Field is an absolutely wonderful ballpark. There isn’t a bad seat in the house, and if the game is too difficult to watch (well, as I write this the Mariners do have the worst record in the American League), there’s always a view like the one above.

I found it interesting that there were lots of empty seats, since Boston, the Yankess and during interleague play, the Giants are usually sellouts. That’s because the Mariners really suck this year, sez a co-worker who’s a rabid M’s fan.

There were as many Red Sox fans as Mariners’ and the cheers were about equal. Well, except when Manny Ramirez scored the game’s only home run — he got booed, but good.

Then there’s the Red Sox center fielder, Coco Crisp. His given first name is Covelli, but it still sounds like he was named after something in the cereal aisle at a grocery store.

We were both intrigued by the Red Sox’ intentional walking of Ichiro Suzuki in the bottom of the 9th. The rabid fan told me he’s been batting very well lately, so the Red Sox were hoping to strike out the next player in the batting order, 2nd baseman Jose Lopez, which would’ve been the third out, sending the game into extra innings.

Lopez batted in the winning run. It was a gamble, said the rabid fan. Kinda like my luck with Lotto tickets.

So, the Mariners ended a 7-game losing streak. We only had a short stroll to reach our bikes, which were upright and intact. A good thing, since Elliott Bay is much closer to where we parked than Fenway Park is to the Charles River.